Floating Shelves

We are finally reaching the end of our re-design of the boy’s room. The last step is to hang some shelves across one wall. After looking into a few styles, we decided it would be a good time to try Floating Shelves. The look of them fit into the style of the room, and they have been a bit of a curiosity for us.

There are plenty of descriptions and free plans online to explain how to build and install this style of shelf, so we only spent a few minutes looking them up. Here is one link with some decent videos which was helpful: Ron Hazelton’s Housecalls.

We played with the layout of the shelves, using painter’s tape. After several tries, we finally decided on one long shelf across the top with two lower shelves pushed to the far left. A little time spent finding and marking the studs and we were able to cut and attach spruce 2×2’s to the wall where the shelves were going to go. Then it was out to the shop to start making the shelves themselves.

We ripped some 1x pine into 1.5” strips, then chopped them to the lengths we needed for our frame. Following this, we ripped some 3/8” plywood for the shelf tops and bottoms. And finally, more 1x pine ripped to 2.25” for the facing pieces.

The lower two shelves were easy to figure out – build a frame leaving 1.5” at the back of the shelf for the 2×2, cover it with 3/8” plywood, attach the facing pieces, round over the edges, and sand. Actually, it was a lot easier than we expected. Then, it was on to the top shelf.

The top shelf was to be an 11’ span, from corner to corner, and we were instantly concerned that we wouldn’t be able to maneuver the shelf into place if it was one piece. So, the simple answer would be to split it in half, hang two shelves side by side. We chose to modify the frame for these shelves to accommodate an extra brace to go between the shelves, tying them together. Then, we added overlapping mitres to the facing pieces to make the seam between the two shelves a little less noticeable.

When it was all said and done, these shelves were very easy to make, which makes us wonder why we waited so long to try them. They look good, and seem more than strong enough for general use. And so, from one Woodworking Hobbyist to another, try building a Floating Shelf, even if it’s just for your shed or garage. You will be pleased with the results.

If you do try it, or have built them in the past, please leave a comment. Let us know how it went, or any tricks you picked up along the way.